DOWN THERE

Directed by: Chantal Akerman

According to director Chantal Akerman, she never planned to make a film in Israel. She was convinced that neutrality does not exist and that her subjectivity would get in her way. It was only when she taught at the University of Tel Aviv, picked up a camera and “found” suitable images, that she decided to make a film. DOWN THERE is "one of the great documentary self-portraits." —Richard Brody, The New Yorker. During the film, Akerman spends a brief period on her own in a seaside apartment in Tel Aviv. She films from the apartment and in her narration, she discusses her family, her Jewish identity and her childhood. She wonders whether normal everyday life is possible in this place and whether filming is a realistic option. Akerman does not film here with any pre-determined intentions. She wants to be as open as possible to ensure that things take their own course. "What’s remarkable is the degree to which Ms. Akerman uses the interplay of place and displacement to wrest beauty from despair." —J. Hoberman, The New York Times